Most children slept late, played with friends, visited relatives or traveled this week while West Fork students spent Monday through Friday in class.
The School District was closed 21 days because of inclement weather -- the equivalent of a month of school days. School officials, from school board members to classroom teachers, decided making up those days before annual testing begins was more important than spring break.
Benchmark testing is in mid-April for grades three through eight and in April and May for high school students. West Fork students will participate next week in field testing of the new online assessment for Algebra II, according to Common Core State Standards. The Partnership Assessment for Readiness for College and Career will be given to all Arkansas students next spring.
In Judy Merrill's fifth-grade social studies class Thursday, students continued a lesson in history by working on their reading. Each of the 16 students selected a part to read in a short four-act play titled "Christopher Columbus Searching for the Indies" by Frank Caropreso.
The students learned about Columbus' request to Queen Isabella of Spain to finance his exploration to find the New World.
Beyond the history lesson, the students learned about fluency and word strategies, such as pace, phrasing, expression and use of punctuation.
Sarah Carroll, 10, who drew the role of Christopher Columbus, said she didn't like having school on spring break.
Shay Barnes, 10, said, "It's kind of 50-50. Part of me likes it, and part of me doesn't."
Justin Barnes, 11, was noncommittal on the use of spring break, simply saying, "It's good to learn stuff."
Merrill said the school was closed more days this winter than ever before in her 25-year career as a West Fork teacher. The district was the only one in Washington County that had classes all week.
Merrill said it was more important to be at school this week because of the upcoming testing.
Most classes had special tasks to engage students. Sixth-graders took a field trip. They walked around town, visiting the library and community center, and returned to school to do math and science activities related to their hike.
Marletta Brock, a special education teacher, said the week was going well but added, "It's not my favorite week to be in school."
NW News on 03/30/2014